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Somehow the door on the vault had closed. Somehow it had locked itself and no amount of pounding could make it open. Somehow no one could hear Ben yelling.
He told himself that they would be back any minute looking for him. Any second the door would open. His siblings would never leave him here alone. They must’ve been just outside, trying to get the door open.
Ben was screaming. He called for Dad, for Klaus, for Five, for Vanya, for Mom, for Luther and Diego, for Allison, for someone- anyone to get him out of here. Please, let him out before it was too late. Before they forget that he was there. That Ben was-
When he finally gave up, his throat was sore from yelling and he had cried himself to the brink of exhaustion. His eyes burned from tears that he couldn’t shed and he sniffed miserably. His siblings hadn’t come back. They weren’t coming back.
Ben didn’t have a problem with the small space, but it was cold and he was alone. He had backed into a corner of the room and had wrapped his arms around himself. Rocking back and forth, there was no sound and there was no hope. His heart had gone cold.
The vault was dark. Ben couldn't see his hands even when they were ten inches from his face. The only light was a small red blinking light up near the ceiling that must’ve been an alarm or an electronic of some kind. Swearing to himself, he figured that it couldn’t be a camera. If it was a camera, Ben would’ve been freed by now. Someone would’ve seen his panic and sent someone right away to save the young hero that had bravely defeated the robbers just hours earlier. But they didn’t so it couldn’t be a camera. It just couldn’t be.
When Ben couldn’t lost the ability to keep screaming, the sound of his heartbeat and breathing had grown louder. Ben had read somewhere that when it gets too quiet that the human brain will start to fabricate noises. White noises. So maybe it was the sound of blood in his ears or whatever buzzing his nervous system made instead of footsteps somewhere just out of sight. Ben couldn’t remember where he had read it, but the thought was stuck in his head and the sounds were stuck in his ears.
Maybe worse than the crushing darkness and total isolation was the paranoia. He could feel spiders, fingers running up his back, someone breathing on his neck, and- Ben would’ve sworn that he wasn’t alone. He knew he must be, but he wasn’t. Someone was there. A ghost? Klaus said that there were ghosts and that they weren’t nice, but Ben wasn’t Klaus. He couldn’t see them or hear them or feel them.
It would make sense if it was his heart beating that made it seem like the world was swaying when he sat perfectly still. If he really focused on it, his heart would beat consistently in time with how he would seem to twitch and drift between states of consciousness.
Ben wished his siblings were here. They’d make him laugh. They’d tickle him until he couldn’t breath. They’d scoop him up in their arms and hug Ben tightly. They’d make him feel safe. They’d make him feel loved. They wouldn’t forget about him in some stupid bank. They’d come back for him.
The red light that couldn’t be a camera blinked sometimes. Ben tried to count the seconds in between each one, but he kept losing what number he was on. He stared at it for what must have been hours. Silence. Silence. Silence. Blink. Silence. Silence. Si- Blink. Silence.
Ben imagined that there was someone controlling the light. It would blink morse code at him trying to tell him that it would be okay, that it would be only a little while longer, that help was on the way. If only Ben could understand morse code.
He wondered what the others were doing. The robbery had been late in the evening. Had they all gone home and gone to bed without noticing Ben wasn’t with them? They had probably celebrated somehow. Ice cream, free time, a movie night - Ben’s stomach growled and he felt the Horror move with discomfort - dinner?
It was sometime later, a while later, a long time later, that Ben realized his breathing was slowing down. The rational part of him said that it was because he was falling asleep, but the evil part of him said that it was because the
room was running out of oxygen. He felt every breath he took growing shallower and shallower and shallower. The vault wasn’t meant to have humans inside. It wouldn’t be ventilated. The whole time that Ben was panicking, he was wasting his precious air supply.
It was too late now.
Ben wouldn’t be saved.
His heart seemed to be slowing.
His family had forgotten about him.
Somehow, he was lying on his side.
The red light blinked.
Ben took a shaky breath of air.
He was going to pass out.
He couldn’t sit up.
All the energy had been drained out of him.
This was the end of him.
Goodbye, Number Six. The Horr-
Flashes of Red. Ben blinked. The light blinked. The room around them blinked. He felt cold air rushing past him. There was pain in his torso. The Horror had come to life.
Maybe Ben had accepted his fate, but the Horror wasn’t going down without a fight.
They found the vault door and ripped it off its hinges in a blinding white rage. There were screams and yells from where Ben couldn’t see. The Eldritch had lifted him off the ground and were flinging themselves into the painfully bright corridor of the bank. A figure was yelling into his walkie talkie and a tentacle tore it from his hands.
He was an enemy. Everyone screaming was an enemy.
With a bending of tentacles, the Horror flung the man across the room. He hit the wall and crumpled. Ben could smell the blood and it was comforting to have something new to awaken his senses.
He was overjoyed at the artificial light. It was such a nice change from the unending darkness. The Horror, in its state of frenzy, moved and destroyed the priceless paintings on the wall. It wasn’t like they mattered, but Ben didn’t want to be near the vault any longer.
Blink. The alarms went off and Ben’s head snapped up. His eyes were a little too wide and his smile felt forced. A tentacle smashed the alarm and it quieted considerably. Ben felt relieved that it was quiet at last. He could see his family. He wanted to celebrate with them. Maybe ice cream. Maybe a movie. Maybe dinner. Maybe laughter and jokes and hugs.
They needed to get outside and back to the academy. They as in the Horror and Ben. Not these bloody lumps that used to be screaming people. They weren’t invited.
The tentacles knew where to go of course. All Ben had to do was run to keep up. The Horror would take care of everything for him. It always had. It always will. The Horror would keep him safe no matter what.
Ben heard more screams as they entered a larger, fancier room. There were people everywhere and the horror moved to defend Ben. They whipped at the figures in front of him that were blocking them from getting outside.
It was rude of the strangers to block the path anyways. Couldn’t they see that all of this pain could be avoided if they just got out of Ben’s way? He usually wouldn’t push like this, but he didn’t want to be late for the party.
The sirens were back- or they just started? Either way, Ben hated the noise with a passion. He hated it. Hated it. It was too loud and high pitched. A tentacle smashed the glass and a voice rang out from in front of them.
Ben’s face lit up at the sight of his siblings. Someone must’ve called them to save Ben! The citizens ran for cover, but the Umbrella Academy stood their ground. They came back from him. They were going to rescue him and take him home and watch a movie and-
A tentacle hit Luther in the stomach and flung him against the window, shattering it. There were voices talking. So many voices all at once. It was confusing, but Ben couldn’t help but cry tears of joy.
Blink. Five stood in front of Ben. He shouted up to him, but Ben couldn’t hear him over the sound of blood rushing through his veins. He couldn’t hear over the sirens. Five disappeared with a flash of blue light that made Ben wince. A tentacle swept over where Five had been. If only it had been a second sooner.
Klaus stood with his hands stretched high. He was talking in a calm, soothing voice. He was apologizing for what happened. Klaus said that it was okay. Ben would just need to stop attacking people and he could go home. They could go home. Klaus said that Benny would be alright. Bentacles would be okay.
Blink.
He could hear his own voice sobbing louder than the sirens. They forgot about him. They left him there to die. Ben needed them to be there and they left. They left him alone with the spiders and the figures and the blinking and the-
Klaus was wrapped tight in a tentacle. Diego too. Ben could feel the Horror squeezing them. It was nice; almost like a hug. Ben smiled in comfort as he watched his brothers turning redder and redder. That was what he had wanted all night. A hug. Someone to tell him that it would be okay.
Reginald Hargreeves, Dad, standing in the doorway to the bank lecturing Ben at the top of his lungs. He should be better than this. He was throwing a temper tantrum. Ben needed to stop hurting his siblings before he couldn’t take it back. Ben needed to be better. Ben was already crying. What else could he do?
He did a head count. One was thrown out a window. Five ran away. Seven was stuck in traffic and wouldn’t make it to the party. Four and Two were running out of air. That left-
“I heard a rumor that you fell asleep.” A voice said. “I heard a rumor that when you woke up, you didn't remember any of this.”